In chapter 8 we introduce several concepts and ideas around branding. For example, we define brand equity as “the value of a brand’s overall strength in the market.” We follow that up with an example of Coca-Cola. In 2016, we see that Coca-Cola’s brand equity, as measured by Interbrand, has fallen since we wrote this in the textbook. As sales growth has slowed for the soft drink giant, it decided on a new brand strategy, which it described in a press release as follows: Marking a significant shift in its marketing strategy, Coca-Cola today announced that for the first time, all Coke Trademark brands will be united in one global creative campaign: [Continue Reading …]

Seth Godin is a master of saying a lot with relatively few words. This time, in “ The trust brand ” (Seth’s Blog, September 7, 2013), Seth suggests that every brand is really a “trust brand.” What do you think? Is that what a brand should be? Is every brand a trust brand? Is a brand just a promise you can believe – a promise the brand will offer you some set of benefits?

Danish Chocolatier Anthon Berg created a special pop-up store in Copenhagen, Denmark. At this store, customers couldn’t pay for their boxes of chocolate with cash, they paid instead with good deeds. Each product was labeled with a deed the customer had to perform – like “Serve breakfast in bed to your loved one” or “Help clean a friend’s house.” Customers posted their promised “payment” on their Facebook page right in the store — helped by staff carrying around iPads. Think about all the promotion operating here: the store served as a billboard, the Facebook posts as advertising, and the positive [Continue Reading …]

Marketing is most interesting when you can see many of the concepts you learn tied together. This article, “ Philly Cream Cheese’s Spreading Appeal ” (Bloomberg Businessweek, December 12, 2011) shows how some of the different elements you have been learning about in marketing can be tied together – with successful results. Sales of Philadephia brand cream cheese were pretty much flat (mature or decline stage of the product life cycle) for most of the last decade. Then Kraft researchers (market research) noticed that heavy users of the product were using cream cheese (consumer behavior) as an ingredient in their cooking — not simply as [Continue Reading …]

There are plenty of articles (even a whole issue of BusinessWeek) paying tribute to Steve Jobs this week. As much as we respect Jobs, we weren’t going to join the chorus because we didn’t have anything new or marketing-specific to say. Then we found this 1997 video of Steve Jobs talking to Apple staff. Jobs had recently returned to the company he founded (he had been unceremoniously booted in 1985). In the video Jobs explains what he thinks “marketing” is — actually explaining positioning — and introduces the new “Think Different” campaign. “To me, marketing is about values,” he said. [Continue Reading …]

Mercedes Benz has struggled in recent years in its battle with other Germany luxury carmakers — with BMW and Audi both passing the fabled brand. In “ A Mini Mercedes with Big Ambitions ” (BusinessWeek, September 22, 2011), you can read about a new Mercedes Benz the B-Class. This smaller and more affordable Mercedes targets a “younger, hipper clientele” than the traditional Mercedes target market. The move is an example of expanding a product line downmarket — which has implications for Mercedes positioning and brand equity. What do you think about Mercedes risk to its classic positioning? What could Mercedes have done — or could they [Continue Reading …]